In cellular radios, radio frequency (RF) carrier generation modules (e.g., phase-locked loops (PLLs)) are consuming about 35% of an entire radio current budget and around 25% of an entire transceiver current budget. In conventional approaches, the RF carrier generation modules are kept powered on even when the remainder of the transceiver is duty-cycled since the PLLs need to maintain phase continuity between duty cycles. Without phase continuity, the transceiver would have to reacquire a sampling offset and a carrier phase. The reacquisition of the sampling offset and carrier phase causes the transceiver to (1) consume more time thus translating to additional power consumption, and 2) require a certain packet format that may not be compatible with a standard.